On the rare occasions that my sister and I find ourselves in dire economic straits, we typically joke about finding a pole and working it to make some quick money. “I can be flexible when I need to be.” “I can make this jelly roll.” “I bet you dudes would pay us NOT to dance […]
“I have an anecdote about one of the reasons our fabric means so much to me. As I mentioned, my father was in the Foreign Service. It is a rule that Ghanaian diplomats must wear Ghanaian national attire whenever the Embassy hosts an Independence Day party. In the early 1980’s, my family lived in Copenhagen. […]
There are a couple of things about Accra that the casual observer will note and that the average pupil is taught about the typography of Ghana’s capital city: Accra is situated in a coastal plain The city is 91 meters elevation above the sea level Accra – and other coastal villages and towns – are […]
“Mercy, where are you?” “I’m in a lorry with Aba. The rains are very heavy. We aren’t moving.” Obodai grunted on the other end of the phone. Mercy could tell her husband was trying to be strong, but his voice quivered a bit when he said, “Just get home as soon as you can. I’ll […]
My phone rang. It was an unknown number. I answered it anyway. You never know if that call is going to be a publisher or an agent ready to discuss a new book deal, or someone who had borrowed money in the past calling with an apology and a check. I answered the call eagerly. […]
Written by: Julia Nelson, friend, philosopher and master fruit smoothie maker. So I keep seeing all these articles and blog posts with titles like “Ten Things I Never Knew About Marriage,” or “Eight Things They Never Told Me About Marriage,” or my favorite: “Four Thousand Three Hundred Things the CHURCH Never Told Me About Marriage […]
“Hey Malaka! What are the credentials for wearing Krobo waist beads?” “Have a waist, I suppose. I dunno. I’m not Krobo.” “Ah.” My younger cousin from my American side of the family was the one making this inquiry. She lives in Columbus, Ohio and to my knowledge, has never been out of the country. Now, […]
https://www.facebook.com/190822330968156/videos/935985956451786/?pnref=story This is not what I intended to write about today, but once again, this is one of those videos I couldn’t help but share. I love history and I love hair, so when the two collide it gets shared! Hey…I made a rhyme thing. This video by Chime absolutely struck a chord in me. […]
The concert tomorrow, May 29th at 8pm at Alliance Française in Accra. Tsewww. Google the details yourself. I ain’t here to talk about no daggum concert. I’m here to talk about my angsty emotions about missing said concert. On May 29th, my one and only son turns six years old. But please believe that if […]
“Who gave you the right to judge who is fit to be a Negro, and who is not?” – Captain Davenport, A Soldier’s Story. Have you ever seen A Soldier’s Story? I LOVE that movie. It came out in 1984. I saw it when I was on summer holiday in Detroit at my cousin Cookie’s […]
When Michael Kwame Gbordzoe composed the lyrics to our national anthem, ‘God Bless Our Homeland, Ghana’ culminating the first stanza with the refrain: And help us to resist oppressor’s rule, with all our will and might forevermore I wonder if he ever imagined that the government elected by the people, for the people, would eventually […]
Shouts out to all my parents, guardians and grandparents raising grandbabies in The Struggle. We did it. The end of the school year has come and if you’re reading this, it means that you still had a little bit of change left over to pay your internet and light bill. You tha real MVP. Nana […]
Last week, Marshall and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. *Confetti…yay!* As we sat down to dinner, I casually opened my Facebook app (a habit of mine he has long hated, but has grown accustomed to) and saw that another couple in Africa had just tied the knot within days of our anniversary. That couple […]
Sweet shegge! Every once in a while in the barrage of perpetual angst, vitriol and anger, Facebook delivers a nugget so precious that you grab a hold of it and flee. You never want to lose the light and joy this precious thing has delivered unto you. Yesterday, one such gem filtered onto my newsfeed […]
*Stick with me Atlanta readers. This post is about Ghana, but it concerns you too!* Over the last few weeks, there has been much ado about the lack of respect for Ghana’s leadership and in particular, for the office of the presidency. Several members of parliament, a smattering of traditional leaders and now recently, […]
Yvonne Nelson is a Ghanaian actress and a producer. Physically, she was built for modeling or volleyball. Academically, she could have been anything she wanted. Professionally, she chose to enter into the entertainment arena, and has worked towards it with such passion and dedication that she has earned the moniker of “celebrity”. Yvonne Nelson is […]
Home invasions are a terrifying – and frequent – occurrence in any metropolitan area. Accra is no exception. As a child, our home was burgled on several occasions, with the thieves making off with appliances, clothing or VHS tapes. The specificity of the items stolen indicated that that the burglar(s) had been in our home […]
I asked a question recently with regards to a certain rape case and a certain ace broadcaster. Yes, I know you guys are tired of hearing me talk about it. I don’t care. Log off. There are wider implications from the behavior exhibited and the outcomes that affect us all, and we need to talk […]
Blogging rules dictate the I say something witty and pithy prior to advising you to click on the video below, but I don’t want to rob you of the opportunity of discovering the magic of Negrotown for yourself. I will tell you that I’d love to move to Negrotown for the following reasons: So I […]
I wasn’t going to tell this story because it didn’t become relevant until I got hit on by a crackhead in Midtown last night. I met my boo Obaa Boni for a farewell dinner last night. Yes, my fair atheist, feminist maiden is leaving the Georgia’s hinterland for other shores and I wanted to fete […]
This post isn’t about John Dumelo, my ex-boo. A while ago I wrote about how much I admired him and how compassionate and brilliant he was. Then we went and started speaking off script in a series of videos, tweets and radio interviews and my regard for him imploded. The gravitational pull of my contempt […]